Tot School: Christmas Preparations!

Rosemary is currently 13 months old.

Tot School got a little off course this week since we were so busy. However, we did lots of preparations for Christmas!

Rosemary did her first craft project. I was too busy hovering to take pictures of her actually putting it together, but here is the finished product:

I did attempt to do some guidance, but she was so excited just to stick the items down that I let it go.  After she placed each piece she said, "There!"  She had a lot of fun. The craft kit came from a visit with Santa and was purchased by them from the Oriental Trading Company.  Everything had an adhesive backing except for the paper legs which I put on myself with hot glue once Rosemary was finished sticking everything to Santa's tummy.  She did put the buckles on the shoes herself.

We also made Christmas cookies.  It was a tradition when I was growing up for my Mom to make sugar cookies which we would decorate. We'd paint them with evaporated milk with some food coloring. I was pretty sure Rosemary wasn't quite ready to paint cookies, so I opted for snickerdoodles with colored sugar. She enjoyed throwing the balls in the sugar and then of course licking her fingers!

We did practice a few body parts as I had planned. Rosemary knows where her feet are and where her head is.  I will try to get a picture, but she doesn't like to perform for the camera!  I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Tot School: Big and Little, Up and Down

Rosemary is currently 12 months and 3 weeks old.

This week we focused on opposites while we played. Though there were plenty of other fun learning experiences through the week!!

We spent lots of time in the bath tub since Rosemary had a cold and enjoyed her bubble bath with Johnson's Medicated Baby Bath. During bath time we played with the Big Yellow Duck and the Little Yellow Duck and also with the Big Green Frog and the Little Green Frog.  Rosemary played and I just repeated big and little.  She has also learned how to fill the bath toys with water and squirt the water back out! Loads of fun with that one!  Sorry there are no pics of bath time!

Another game I do not have pictures of is Hide and Seek. Rosemary has just started walking this week and she loves to use her new skills to find Mommy. I hide behind a chair or the dining room table and she walks around to find me. Great workout for both of us and she gets a huge kick out of it. 

We also finished killing off her birthday balloon.  When she was holding the balloon it was Down and when she let go it went Up!  She enjoyed that game for half an hour. 

Rosemary has also really learned to love coloring!  Here she is demonstrating Brown.  Coincidence of course, but I went with it!  Here Brown Kitty, have a Brown crayon! LOL!

I love coloring!!

Finally we talked about Yucky!  Here is Rosemary demonstrating a yucky crayon. Into the mouth it goes and she says, "yccchh"

Right now Tot School is pretty laid back. I just make use of the teachable moments that come up throughout the day.  We have a great time!  Next week it is body parts. We are going to talk about feet, hands, tummy and head!

First day of Tot School!

Rosemary is currently 12.5 Months Old



I stumbled across the idea of Tot School while trying to find some different things to do with my daughter.  Interesting how much I was over thinking the whole idea!  We have just started today and I have not taken any pictuers yet. I am going to jump straight in and  stumble through this whole thing as I work on getting more organized.

Today my thought was to use a giant foam Elmo puzzle that Rosemary got for her birthday from Grammy, to work on body parts!  I took the puzzle apart as Rosemary dutifully ignored me and was pulling books off a shelf.  I started to put the puzzle together and said, "Look, Rosemary, there are Elmo's eyes!"  She showed some interest by ripping apart the puzzle pieces that formed Elmo's eyes.  She took the rest of the puzzle pieces and made a big pile.  So, instead of body parts we made big and little stacks for twenty minutues. So much for my lesson plan, but we had a great time!

We then moved on to playing with the Fisher Price Little People Circus.  We of course did animal sounds. Rosemary loves to say, "Rawr!"  Even the giraffe says, "Rawr!"  We also practiced moving the lever left and right to spin the animals around on the platform.  Finally we played with the animals going in front of and behind the circus (all while saying, Rawr!)

Just having the idea of Tot School in mind allowed me to better focus on playing with my daughter. I didn't really do anything differently than any other day, I just paid more attention to what I was doing and why and most importantly we had so much fun!!

Birth Story

I was a guest writer of sorts on another blog today. You can see the post here:

http://littlemissemmylou.blogspot.com/2011/03/birth-stories-series-jennifers-story-of.html

Well now, it's been a while...

I am terrible at keeping up with these things. I thought today was as good a day as any to try again.

This has been a rough week. Jason is away in Bermuda on business and I am on my own with four cats, a dog and a baby! Three of my four cats are on medication which is a challenge. On Wednesday Guinness was at day camp at Petsmart playing and sprained his ankle. He is now on meds three times a day. I feel like I am running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

So today, while trying to keep up with all of these responsibilities, I locked myself out of the house. Thankfully with the baby. I was checking on Guinness' poop since the vet had said his pain meds could cause stomach ulcers and I should make sure there was no sign of blood in his poo. Loads of fun already...but I decided to close the door behind me...the locked door!!

Thankfully I had Rosemary with me. We went next door to our neighbor's house and borrowed his living room and phone trying to find someone to come by who could let me in! My mother didn't answer, my husband didn't answer, my mother didn't answer again. Finally I got a hold of my sister who got a hold of my brother who came over to let me in. What a fiasco.

We are giving our neighbors a key after this!